my father claimed to have what he called a second work of grace where he was filled with the Holy Spirit in the 1930s. after this he claimed to be, as a result, sinlessly perfect. sin that was conscious and willful. this was according to the doctrine of sinless perfection developed by john wesley in the 1700s. i must say that in many ways my father's life was remarkable and yet, even to my child mind i could see 'faults' that he did not.
anyway, as a result i have always been interested in the whole idea of a second experience with the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation. several times i have actually been in situations where i sought this filling of the Holy Spirit...but no dice.
recently i learned something interesting. ephesians 5.18 which says, 'be filled with the Holy Spirit' actually does not have the word 'holy' in the original text. hmmm. the commentator i read did not at all attribute the phrase to the third person of the trinity but rather to 'spirit'....so i'm continuing to process. i used to, taking the tense of the verb 'be filled' to be a present passive, see this as literally 'continually/repeatedly be filled with the Holy Spirit' but was a little foggy on how that actually happened. i, especially from an experiential point of view understand the need for repeated 'filling' as brought out by the present tense but i didn't quite understand the passive mode of the verb because that means that it is not something i actively have a part in (active mode) but rather something that is done to me be another. so because it was present (REPETITIVE) it did not jive with a one time experience such as my father claimed. but because it was passive...it seemed...that it was not something i had any part in. so i seemed to be in a dead end with no answers.
in the last several months i read 'like a mighty wind' as told by mel tari..the story of the revival that occurred in thailand in 1965. that was powerfully persuasive. peoples lives were radically transformed and God did miraculous things in and through them. this was immensely attractive because 1. i liked the idea of 'knock your socks off' christianity that kind of bowls over the watching world. in the flesh i kind of like exciting things like that and i also like to be noticed by others, and 2. i am in a time of great spiritual weakness and 'darkness' of a sort and long to have power and light. i long for a daily victorious life over sin and a life that spills grace over into the lives of others. it all seemed so straightforward and 1-2-3. but although very needy and very desirous i found a fundamental block...there was not in my heart a willingness to give myself completely over to God. it was weird because i always thought that i was very willing but now found myself very unwilling.
i'm not sure when it happened but somewhere along the line i took notice of luke 11.13. it was a verse i kept trying to ignore and not deal with but it's astounding claim finally drove me to spend some hours in a local theological library with a number of commentaries on this verse. the verse reads, 'if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
i went through any number of the finest commentaries and had about a quarter page of notes, none of which were crucial to understanding this claim. then, by the grace of God, i opened a book called something like 'treasury of the new testament' by charles haddon spurgeon. on a different plan than most, which did word by word/verse by verse, this selected certain passages and dealt with them in a kind of preaching manner. i walked from dry, arid desert into a lush, luxurious, green and vibrantly alive oasis and i jotted as much as i had time for from this life giving sermon on luke 11.1-13 on prayer. i only read the part on verse 13 which was pages long and a balm to my weary, aching soul. what follows are sort of spurgeon's words but a number of mine intermingled to try to suck the most marrow in the time allotted.
'O Spirit of God destroy Thou sin within us and work in us purity. Thou hast already given us the new birth by water and the Spirit..go on and complete Thy work til our whole nature shall be fashioned in the image of the Great Firstborn..God will give you this Spirit. You shall have it if you seek it..the Holly Spirit illuminates the mind..long to be taught of God..the Holy spirit is set..under the emblem of fire..He kindles enthusiasm of spirit and burning zeal in heart..a tongue of fire speaks with a matchless might..often..the holy Spirit is set forth as oil..divine anointing..as gentle dew that cheers and refreshes the grass..the Spirit will come and console our spirits
..some say we are not to pray for what we already have (by the new birth): pardon of sin/the Holy Spirit...if we have life we are to pray that we have it more abundantly. if we have pardon in one respect, we are to pray that we have it more abundantly. if we have pardon in one respect we are to ask for a fuller sense of it and if we have the Holy Spirit so that we are quickened and saved, we do not ask for him in that capacity, but we ask for His power in other directions and His grace in other forms. i do not go before God now and say, 'Lord, i am a dead sinner, quicken me by Thy Spirit, for i trust i am quickened in the Holy Spirit. but being quickened i now cry, 'Lord, let not the life Thou hast given me ebb down til it becomes very feeble, but give me of Thy Spirit that the life within me may become strong and mighty and may subdue all the power of death within my members, that i may put forth the vigor and energy which comes from Thyself through the Spirit.. SEEK THAT YET MORE AND MORE YOU MAY KNOW HIM and to this end ask God for Him in every situation of need, of weakness.
the text does not say the Father knows HOW to give the Holy Spirit (like wicked men know how to give good gifts to their children...and yet are many times unable)..it declares that he does give for in regard to God, to know is the same as to do!
THIS IS A TRUTH (asking for the Holy Spirit) THAT WE DO NOT PRACTICE!..we do not seek Him importunately because we either do not sense our deep, vast need or we do not believe the simple promise here stated.
dear brother, sit down with pencil in hand and a sheet of blank paper before you and write down ALL YOUR SPIRITUAL WANTS..to pray for all these might seem a very long exercise. my dear brother, just take the pencil and so as the school boys do when they add up the total of their sums.. you will find i comes to this - THE HOLY SPIRIT. if God the Father gives me the Holy Spirit i have all i need...all my needs are met in the blessed Spirit! ...the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and shows them to us...
your prayer is not just for yourself but also intercessory. the Holy Spirit is the answer to all the needs of those around you too. bless others by this prayer for them too..for the tender conscience.. the desire after Christ...coming to Christ for salvation..becoming a christian useful to God and others...and for the church to be united..holy..living!
so in the last several days i have been blessed to cry out numbers of times in response to what is happening within and around me..Father give me the Holy Spirit! i'm thinking that a garden is growing within and around me..oh may it be a garden filled with the sweet aroma of Jesus Christ so that only He may be seen.
in the half a nano second i have left here may You, my faithful, loving God, continue to lead and show me the way to know You intimately and to make You sweetly known...
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